City of Buffalo honors African-American heritage with new archway

Leaders cut the ribbon on the new Michigan Avenue archway, celebrating African-American culture in the Queen City (Buffalo NY).

This archway marks the entrance to the District of the African-American Heritage Corridor.

Leaders say it highlights African-Americans contributions to Buffalo.

“This archway is a door that was never shut for no one. It will always be open. and as you press under this archway and drive through it. hopefully you get blessings and anointing from it, because that’s what the archway is all about. It’s the healing of the wounds that we’re carrying,” artist Valeria Cray said.

This is the first archway in the City of Buffalo.

[SOURCE: WIVB]

Kelsey Koelzer named coach of Arcadia University’s women’s ice-hockey program

Kelsey Koelzer has been a pioneer before.

An African-American woman in ice hockey, she cut her teeth and several other body parts in boys leagues, then became a first-team all-American at Princeton and the National Women’s Hockey League’s top overall draft choice.

Now Koelzer, 24, will break more ground as the first coach of Arcadia University’s new women’s ice-hockey program, which along with a men’s team will begin play in the 2021-22 season.

“To be able to provide more girls an opportunity to play at the college level should be amazing,” Koelzer said. “Hockey helped me get a degree from the best school in the country.”

She’ll start recruiting in October and Arcadia hopes her stature in a sport she discovered at age 4 will propel its new program, which, along with a men’s team, launches in the 2021-22 season. Vince Pietrangelo, the lead assistant at SUNY-Canton, will coach the men.

A Horsham Pennsylvania native, Koelzer was a three-time all-Ivy performer as a Princeton defender and a member of the USA Select Under-22 team. After graduating in 2017, she was drafted into the NWHL and was named its all-star game’s MVP. She’s also a member of the NHL-NHLPA Female Hockey Advisory Committee, a group aiming to increase women’s participation in the sport.

“I’ve mentioned her to some people and they’re impressed. They all say, `Whoa, she’s your coach?’” said Brian Granata, Arcadia’s athletic director. “Her passion is impressive. She’s extremely humble, very mature.”

[SOURCE: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER]

Congresswoman Hayes speaks on the School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act

Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-CT 5th District) spoke at the House Committee on Education & Labor in support of H.R. 4301, the School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act. The bill, which is cosponsored by Congresswomen Hayes, Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), and Lucy McBath (GA-06), would create a federal definition for “school shooting” and instructs the Department of Education, in consultation with the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, to annually report uniform data on school shootings. The bill passed the Committee on Education & Labor and is headed to the floor for a full vote by the House.

Watch Rep. Hayes comments below:

Cory Booker will drop out of presidential race if he can't raise $1.7 million by end of September

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker has told supporters he needs to raise nearly $1.7 million by the end of September or he will drop out of the 2020 presidential race. Watch Cory explain this decision below;

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Callie Shell is a World Press Photo Award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in magazines, books, galleries, and museums throughout the world. She has covered five presidential campaigns, served for eight years as the official photographer for Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration, and spent over 10 years capturing images leading up to and during Barack Obama's presidency.